St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1887-10-29
CORNERED eY BEARS.


enc0 with Bruin.
eyes. sir. that was about the closest
call I ever had"
This remark. coming from . well.
built. .gool-looklng young miner. and
made with n serious infection that left
no doubt Of its sincerity. attracted the
attention of = reporter who happened
10 be standing close to a group Of min
ing men few days ago.
1T was last winter" continued III,
miner. when me and my partner.
Jim Rogers. was working an assess.
ment on q couple Of old prosp ,cts Of
ours up in Geneva Park. about hall
way between Grant and Montezuma.
Grub had given out a few days before,
and while Jim was driving the worl
on a observation-disclosures level through
solid rock. I started over to Montezu'
ma for supply OF grab Snow!
Well. I should remark. And cold.
Well. if We hadn't had to have grub
nothing else would have got me over
that seven miles and back. but it had
to come over. and I brought it. l had
jast got 10 the cabin and fixed up sup
per for Jim and me. and got the dishes
on the table. stepped to the door to
throw out sOmc potatO-parings. talk
ing to Jim. When. as l turned around
at the door. saw. looking through the
little window ut the side Of the cabin.
one of the ugliess and biggest bears
that ever want to see. She was sit.
ting up on her launches and looking
right at me. and rs I turned little
more l saw through the partly open
door two moro big bears In front oi
the cabin. We didn't have even q
dirk-knife in tho cabin. nor gun or re-
volver. and the Ak was at the wood.
pile forty feet from the door. and the
two bears between me and it. ! tell
you ! thought it was rainin bears fol
a minute. A good deal quicker than
I'm telling this l jumped for the poker
that we used to fasten the cabin door
with. and slipped it into place. just
then the old shc-bcar at the window
gave a growl and made a pass at the
window with her paw. Bin. it came.
sash. glass. and all on the
floor. Before the noise had
stopped smash came the other
bears against the door. and it's only
a miracle that it didn't come in. The
poker was bent all out of shape. Well,
Jim and me did lots Of thinking abou,
that time. and il ever wanted 45-
repeater l wanted it right then. You
see. the snow had been lying awful
deep there. and the bears were raven.
ous and most likely hadn't had any
thing to eat for a long time. They
have to get terribly hungry before
they will attack cabin like that.
I'VE threw burning paper and fire.
brands. dishes and every thing We
could get hands on at the old bear in
the window. but she Just stood there
and glared at us. never thought
there could be SO much fire i'm an eye
as there was in hers. She stood there
at us and We at her. when all
At once we heard = noise on the roof
You bet we knew what it was, too,
and were about ready to give up then.
The two-ycar olds. the old bears cubs,
had got up on the dirt roof of the cab
in. Pretty soon they commenced
throwin' dirt and in about two min.
utes had got down 10 the poles that
held the dirt. We could look right
mp through the poles where the dirt
was clawed of and see them. And
wasn't they mad? They would claw
along lcngthwise Of the pole and rake
The bark of every clip and every minute
we were expecting them to get their
claws in between the poles and then
we would be gone. II they had known
enough to give one or two scrapes
sideways they could easily have
of enough poles to let them
down in. What thenp Well. the
bears would have had a SQUARE meal.
and l wouldn't Oe here telling you
about it. All the time they were
away up there ! stood with
the straw bedtick on the floor open
and = lighted candle in my hand. As
told Jim. it was a poor chance. but
I'd rather be burned up than eaten
nn The old bear stayed right there
It the window all the time watching
rs 1t was too small for her. or she'd
nave been in herself After a while
hey seemed to get tired. aand. after
around the cabin until We
we're near frightened to death. they
vent Of. l measured the biggest
mes tracks in the snow next MORN
ng. and it was fourteen inches long.
Il wasn't long before that cabin had q
.ifie in it. and You don't catch me in
,ear county again with no protectio
but straw bed and . candle. y
Desucr Nescs.